Absalom TATOM, Congress, NC (1742-1802)

TATOM, Absalom, a Representative from North Carolina; born in that State in 1742; sergeant in the Greenville (N.C.) Militia in 1763; during the Revolutionary War was commissioned first lieutenant in the First North Carolina Continental Regiment September 1, 1775; promoted to the rank of captain June 29, 1776; resigned from the Continental Army on September 19, 1776; enlisted as assistant quartermaster and keeper of the arsenal in the State service at Hillsborough, N.C., August 15, 1778; was contractor for Hillsborough in 1778; major of detachment of the North Carolina Light Horse February 12, 1779; was clerk of Randolph County Court in 1779; elected to the State house of commons, but was unseated because he already held the office of county clerk; was district auditor for Hillsborough in 1781; one of three commissioners appointed by Congress to survey lands granted to Continental soldiers in the western territory (later Tennessee) in 1782; private secretary to Gov. Thomas Burke in 1782; State tobacco agent in 1782; elected surveyor of North Carolina by the Continental Congress in May 1785; commissioner to sign State paper money in December 1785; served as a delegate to the constitutional convention in 1788; elected as a Republican to the Fourth Congress and served from March 4, 1795, to June 1, 1796, when he resigned; again served in the State house of commons 1797-1802; died in Raleigh, N.C., on December 20, 1802; interment in the Old City Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present